


Grab me by my Ankles

by Southbroom



Category: Gentleman Jack (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad Flirting, F/F, Mental Health Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 20:08:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20452844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Southbroom/pseuds/Southbroom
Summary: University Students AU





	Grab me by my Ankles

Grab me by my ankles  
I've been flying for too long  
I couldn't hide from the thunder  
in the sky full of song

Florence and the Machine, “Sky Full of Song”

* * *

Pub-crawling. Yes, pub-crawling. It’s not exactly what I thought my Thursday night was going to be like either. The third term has started in what Mary deems “Golden Week” – an absurd idea that we should hit the streets every night to celebrate seeing each other again.

It’s not that I don’t like my friends, but there is this the fourth night in a row we are seated in a booth. The conversation shifts to Reggie and Chris and whatever other guys they are interested in, and I can feel myself chewing the inside of my mouth, thinking of the crit with my lecturer the next morning.

“You are no fun, Ann. Come, let me buy you another cider. Let your hair down!” Catherine calls, physically pulling me to the bar.

After a drink or two I can feel myself relaxing more. I hadn’t really gotten drunk in my life before, but this tipsy sensation was not uncommon since I came to uni. The tension was seeping away somewhat, and I did untie my bun and let my hair down.

But the numbness still resided at the back of my head. My aunt had called me earlier with a pretence of checking up on me. Instead she grilled me on finances and what she expects of me academically this year. It sent me into a panic-attack I only barely managed to conceal before Mary arrived at my flat.

It was a constant challenge to keep my focus on the conversation, and not to wallow back into my mood.

Catherine explained that there is going to be a band playing later, and I straighten my shoulders. It _was_going to be a good night – I can felt it. All I had to do was get inebriated enough that the music started sounding good.

“You should come with us to Flashbacks’s afterwards, Ann.”

“Yeah! Jez told me that he was going to be there.”

“Oh my god!”

“I know, Cathy! Its been two months since the last time-”

“Just shut up for two minutes, would you? I think that’s Eugénie.” She narrowed her eyes for a few moments before declaring: “Yeah, Eugénie. My French exchange student from Grade 11.”

I turned to look at the dark-haired girl they were talking about.

“Oh! That is her!” Mary exclaimed, “And is that Marion Lister next to her? Bollocks, it is! Now those are two people I would not have put together.”

I had heard that name before. _Lister_. My sister, Elizabeth, mentioned the older Lister daughter. They had gone to the same fancy boarding school together, Lizzy being a few years younger. After my mother’s death, Aunt Annie made me go to a local school in Halifax, otherwise I would have been in the same year as Catherine and this Marion Lister.

Catherine approached the Eugénie girl and they greeted each other in a hug and the muttering of something excited in French.

“Oh my gosh Marion! I love your dress! That pattern really suits you. It reminds me of the kilt that my great uncle wore at his wedding.” Catherine babbled, not even giving the girl a change to reply before bombarding her with questions, “How long have you been here? I didn’t know you were studying here! What are you studying?”

“Commerce.” Marion said. “And-“

“Oh, by the way, this is Ann. Ann Walker, my cousin.” Catherine announced, this time more directed at Eugénie than poor Marion, who I could already tell was a mere shadow of her beautiful French companion.

“’Ello, Ann.” Eugénie greeted me, before a looming figure in black came up next to her.

“Can you believe that a draught is 20 pence more expensive _here_than the last place we went to, Marion? I told you we should have stayed there.”

The woman (I realised that was what she was), was balancing three glasses in her hands. She briskly gave one to Marion and the other to Eugénie before glancing over Cathy, Mary and me. I shivered.

She was magnificent. Sharp cheekbones and pointed, shapely eyebrows. What really threw me off was the trimmed hair, much like a schoolboy’s, which made my first impression that very thing before she opened her mouth, and revealed a feminine, but deep voice.

“And who are these lovely people, Marion?” the stranger enquired. She sported a long black leather coat that clung to her like a second skin and ankle-length boots.

“This is Catherine Rawson. I went to school with her. And…”

“Mary Sowden.” Mary introduced herself, “A uni friend of Cathy’s. I’m studying law.”

“Excellent!” The dark stranger enthused, before she turned to me again. I suddenly became incredibly aware of my floral button-up shirt and baby-blue jumper.

“Ann.” I said. Stupidly.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that.” The woman asked.

With all the burning pressure, I felt my eyes drop. I shrugged.

“Don’t mind Ann.” Catherine blessedly interrupted, “She’s shy. Practically a mute.”

“Did you say Ann?” Eugénie questioned, “ ‘er name is also Anne.” She was pointing at the girl in the leather coat.

“Really?” Mary said. “Now that’s ironic.”

The disbelief in Mary’s tone was understandable. Ann’s were people like me, who liked cats and sketching and Downton Abbey. The appearance of this other Anne – she looked more like a… Well I didn’t know, really. She was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.

“Ann?” the other Anne said, approaching me. I was expecting a hug or even just a high-five. No, instead the other Anne kissed the back of my hand. “Anne Lister, pleased to meet you.”

“Hello.” I squeaked, “Ann Walker.”

I had no time to even find my bearings before we all assembled into a booth. To my horror and delight, me and other-Anne were squashed into the far of the booth, next to a huge picture of Brandon Flowers on the wall.

“So, Marion… How’s it going with that boyfriend of yours’s?” Catherine asked, and the conversation shifted to Eugénie and Mary enthusing while Marion blushed repeatedly.

I did my best not to take notice of other-Anne. She was listening intently, her elbows stacked onto the table top. Her posture, which is an usual thing to pick up on I guess, was open and confident and… manly. I had heard of butch women before, but I always pictured a cubby, threatening-looking sort of character. Anne Lister wore all the baggy and non-revealing clothes, but her face seemed open. Attractive even.

“So, Ann Walker. What is your story?” She took a gulp of her beer.

I shuddered. My mind was racing, attempting to locate a witty answer. Instead, I heard myself say: “Night out with my cousin and her friend.”

“Charming. I could say the same, I guess. Marion is my little sister and Eugénie a friend that I made in Paris.”

“You have been to Paris?”

“I did my second semester there last year.”

“So you’re a second year like Cathy?”

Anne Lister frowned slightly. “No, I am a fifth year medicine student.”

I felt a pang of nausea kick in. Of course she wouldn’t be our age! I was about to picture beating myself with a mace, but instead Anne Lister gestured across the booth at Catherine. 

My cousin was laughing like some kind of tropical bird. Exaggerated and false.

Anne Lister raised her eyebrows. “Interesting.” She said.

“What is?”

“You are nothing like your cousin and this-“ She made a vague sweeping moment with her hand, “Mary person.” She paused, surveying me, “And I can tell you don’t like the noise of this place.”

“It’s not that bad.” I lied.

“What would you be doing instead of pub-crawling, Miss Walker?”

“Probably nothing.”

“Nothing?” she sounded amazed, “Well you must do something in your spare time.”

“I like walks.”

“Of course, Miss _Walker_.” She grinned, sending me into a mess of emotions before I smiled back. It was a joke. It took me _way too long _to smile back.

“And drawing -“

“Drawing?”

“I am studying graphic design.” I said, “I like doing sketches of animals and plants.”

She did not say anything, only looked further at me.

“It’s not very interesting, botanical sketches. It’s not what anyone really has in mind when they think ‘art student’.”

“I like scientific drawings.” She said, “It’s the whole reason why I am studying medicine. I have a lot of respect for someone who can capture the entirety of something comprehendible with a few lines on paper. Especially something as indefinably complex as the human body.”

“So you’re going to be a doctor?”

“A surgeon, hopefully. I want to specialise in cardiology. _Matters of the heart_.” She trailed off.

“We want to go to Flashbacks after this.” Catherine told Eugénie, Anne and Marion, “To initiate little Ann here. She’s only in first year.”

“The club?” other-Anne asked.

“Yes.” Catherine said smoothly, “My friend is meeting us there.”

“Why don’t we go to that pub around the corner first?” Anne suggested, “I don’t think anyone here is near inebriated enough for that inaudible thudding they call club music. Except maybe Marion. Major lightweight.”

“Ha. Ha.” Marion said, all stone-faced.

x

Ann Walker was standing by the bar, blinking repeatedly as the bartender flirted outright with her. I could see why, I mean, she was gorgeous. Gorgeous in an awkward sort of way. She seemed a bit blinded by the light of the place and coughing every now and then by the smoke. I decided to try and help her, leaving Eugénie with the rest.

“Is that a G&T?”

“No. Just Sprite.” She looked embarrassed. “I – ur – drinking is not-“

I gave her a grin, “Whatever makes you happy, Miss Walker. It’s good to have a backbone and do what makes you comfortable.”

“Thanks… Anne. God, that sounds weird. Especially because my Aunt’s name is also Ann, but we’ve taken to calling her Auntie Annie because of the confusion.”

“You can call me Fred if you like.” I said, almost regretting it before her face crinkled up into an amused: “_Fred?_”.

“My…_friend _from school used to call me that.”

“Oh.” She said, “I’ve always wanted a nickname. Ann is just so…”

“A name is what you make of it. I think I know about eight different Michaels who all do the name justice in their own way.”

“Do you have a lot of guys in your course then?”

“Yes.” I said, “Listen, do you want to head outside with me quickly.” I said, taking my box of cigarettes out my pocket.

She nodded, trailing behind me to the beer garden. I held the door open for her and she ducked into the night air. Marion was eyeballing me from across the room. I chuckled before stepping outside as well.

I know what my sister was thinking. The thought was crossing my mind too like a newspaper headline – _Naive First Year Seduced by Older Lesbo_! But there was something about this Ann Walker that held me back, at least for a while. Usually I’d go in full-force, but I felt like I’d crack poor Miss Walker if I did that. So when we sat down on a bench outside, I sat on her side, making sure to keep my distance.

“Sorry for cutting you off in there.” I started, “What were you saying?”

“It’s slipped my mind too now.” Ann said.

It was quiet in the beer garden, and the silence made the space between me and her seem larger.

“You’re from Halifax too?”

“Born in Yorkshire, actually. Sent to boarding school in Scotland before moving down to London for university. My father grew up in Halifax, hence the accent. My great-grandfather actually inherited our family estate, Shibden, but it got sold to the municipality when he died. It got turned into a museum now.”

“I’ve been there before.” She paused, watching me take a drag, “It’s a beautiful house.”

“I used to fantasise that the top bedroom was mine, the one with this large windowsill. It’s a pity that it slipped out my family’s hands, but probably for the best. The museum manager, Sarah, always gives me and Marion a private tour when we visit. When last did you go?”

Ann sat upright, “When I was thirteen.”

“You should go back one day.” I started, “I can take you. You should see the spider webs in the cellars-“

“No actually…” She tensed up, addressing the floor again, “My parents… My mum and dad passed around that time. Almost everything about then brings back these flashbacks.”

She shook her head aggressively, “I’m sorry. Count on me to spoil the mood.”

“Hey,” I said gesturing to get her attention, “Breathe in.”

“What?”

“Just do it.”

She followed, gazing at me with suspicion. 

“And out.”

Her eyes nervously met my gaze, sinking as she exhaled.

“I’m sorry.” She said, “Catherine always says that I bring that up at the wrong time.”

“Who gives a fuck what Catherine thinks.” I said, half in firmness and the other half in amusement, “She has no right to dictate what you choose to tell other people.”

“I guess I am just used to listening to what she has to say.”

In the dim light coming from the building I could see that Ann’s earrings were small diamond studs. The sight of them made me smile for some reason.

“That’s the glorious thing about leaving school. Only you can decide what is important to you. As for the rest… It’s just background noise.”

I pointed my cigarette to the manic laughter coming from inside, and Ann gave me a small smile back.

“Anne? Anne!” Marion was calling, “There you are. Its sub-zone out here. Come back inside.”

“I have always appreciated the positive effects of chilly night air.”

“Well the rest of us are going to that club place if you two are interested.”

“We- we’ll be- We’ll catch up with you guys. You can go so long.”

Marion gave Ann a long stare.

“Right.” She said, turning on her feet.

Ann looked at me, “Background noise.”

“Marion is the _definition _of background noise, dear Miss Walker.”

x

**Author's Note:**

> So this one I've been working on for... long. Its the concoction of reading Virginia Woolf's love letters (YOU WILL SWOON TOO) and my own university experiences. It is a joy imagining these two darlings in any situation at all. I have a vague idea of what comes next, but it might take a while. Sorry!


End file.
